Temporary disability benefits; installment payments; termination;
overpayment
Sec. 7. (a) Compensation shall be allowed on account of injuries
producing only temporary total disability to work or temporary
partial disability to work beginning with the eighth (8th) day of such
disability except for medical benefits provided in section 4 of the
chapter. Compensation shall be allowed for the first seven (7)
calendar days only if the disability continues for longer than
twenty-one (21) days.
(b) The first weekly installment of compensation for temporary
disability is due fourteen (14) days after the disability begins. Not
later than fifteen (15) days from the date that the first installment of
compensation is due, the employer or the employer's insurance
carrier shall tender to the employee or to the employee's dependents,
with all compensation due, a properly prepared compensation
agreement in a form prescribed by the board. Whenever an employer
or the employer's insurance carrier denies or is not able to determine
liability to pay compensation or benefits, the employer or the
employer's insurance carrier shall notify the worker's compensation
board and the employee in writing on a form prescribed by the
worker's compensation board not later than thirty (30) days after the
employer's knowledge of the claimed injury. If a determination of
liability cannot be made within thirty (30) days, the worker's
compensation board may approve an additional thirty (30) days upon
a written request of the employer or the employer's insurance carrier
that sets forth the reasons that the determination could not be made
within thirty (30) days and states the facts or circumstances that are
necessary to determine liability within the additional thirty (30) days.
More than thirty (30) days of additional time may be approved by the
worker's compensation board upon the filing of a petition by the
employer or the employer's insurance carrier that sets forth:
(1) the extraordinary circumstances that have precluded a
determination of liability within the initial sixty (60) days;
(2) the status of the investigation on the date the petition is
filed;
(3) the facts or circumstances that are necessary to make a
determination; and
(4) a timetable for the completion of the remaining
investigation.
An employer who fails to comply with this section is subject to a
civil penalty of fifty dollars ($50), to be assessed and collected by the
board upon notice and hearing. Civil penalties collected under this
section shall be deposited in the state general fund.
(c) Once begun, temporary total disability benefits may not be
terminated by the employer unless:
(1) the employee has returned to any employment;
(2) the employee has died;
(3) the employee has refused to undergo a medical examination
under section 6 of this chapter or has refused to accept suitable
employment under section 11 of this chapter;
(4) the employee has received five hundred (500) weeks of
temporary total disability benefits or has been paid the
maximum compensation allowed under section 22 of this
chapter; or
(5) the employee is unable or unavailable to work for reasons
unrelated to the compensable injury.
In all other cases the employer must notify the employee in writing
of the employer's intent to terminate the payment of temporary total
disability benefits and of the availability of employment, if any, on
a form approved by the board. If the employee disagrees with the
proposed termination, the employee must give written notice of
disagreement to the board and the employer within seven (7) days
after receipt of the notice of intent to terminate benefits. If the board
and employer do not receive a notice of disagreement under this
section, the employee's temporary total disability benefits shall be
terminated. Upon receipt of the notice of disagreement, the board
shall immediately contact the parties, which may be by telephone or
other means, and attempt to resolve the disagreement. If the board is
unable to resolve the disagreement within ten (10) days of receipt of
the notice of disagreement, the board shall immediately arrange for
an evaluation of the employee by an independent medical examiner.
The independent medical examiner shall be selected by mutual
agreement of the parties or, if the parties are unable to agree,
appointed by the board under IC 22-3-4-11. If the independent
medical examiner determines that the employee is no longer
temporarily disabled or is still temporarily disabled but can return to
employment that the employer has made available to the employee,
or if the employee fails or refuses to appear for examination by the
independent medical examiner, temporary total disability benefits
may be terminated. If either party disagrees with the opinion of the
independent medical examiner, the party shall apply to the board for
a hearing under IC 22-3-4-5.
(d) An employer is not required to continue the payment of
temporary total disability benefits for more than fourteen (14) days
after the employer's proposed termination date unless the
independent medical examiner determines that the employee is
temporarily disabled and unable to return to any employment that the
employer has made available to the employee.
(e) If it is determined that as a result of this section temporary
total disability benefits were overpaid, the overpayment shall be
deducted from any benefits due the employee under section 10 of this
chapter and, if there are no benefits due the employee or the benefits
due the employee do not equal the amount of the overpayment, the
employee shall be responsible for paying any overpayment which
cannot be deducted from benefits due the employee.
(Formerly: Acts 1929, c.172, s.28; Acts 1949, c.243, s.1; Acts 1974,
P.L.108, SEC.8.) As amended by P.L.170-1991, SEC.5;
P.L.258-1997(ss), SEC.5.
Last modified: May 27, 2006